Menu

Pakistan op-ed: China can mistreat Muslims, but others can’t?

Scene from China: The imams are being forced to dance, fasting has been banned, women cannot wear veils and growing beards can land you in trouble.

Since childhood, we have grown up listening, reading and watching the tales of Pak-China friendship. We were told that Pak-China friendship is ‘sweeter than the sweetest honey’, higher than the Himalayas and deeper than the seas.

We were continuously reminded that Israel, USA and India are enemies of Pakistan, Islam and Muslims and they would take any step to extinguish Muslims from the face of earth. Our curriculum, television channels, newspapers and mullahs propagated the same at every occasion. Every other day, we witness rallies and protests condemning these countries for their treatment of Muslims. If an Indian, US or Israeli somehow slaps a Muslim, even that becomes the world’s most important issue for us and the ghairat (honour) of Muslims – especially Pakistanis – lights up.

All sects and people from all ages start condemning the horrific incident and demand that the government cuts off all diplomatic ties with that particular country.

However, we have never witnessed this in case of China – a country that has been given indemnity by us. The treatment of Muslims by the Chinese government largely borders on cruelty but none of the Pakistanis dare to speak a single word against it…